


It's fine to be weird

by fizumono



Category: Adam (2009), Hannibal Extended Universe - Fandom, Mænd & høns | Men & Chicken (2015)
Genre: M/M, hannigram AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-14 21:23:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8029378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fizumono/pseuds/fizumono
Summary: The story begins with an unfortunate interruption of Adam's laundry routine by a strange man who keeps hitting the lock of the laundry room door with a large rolling pin.A SpaceChicken (crack?) fic for @hannibalcreative @EatTheRare event.





	1. Chapter 1

The clock almost strike six in the evening when Adam Raki accidentally spills a can of orange soda all over himself. 

He hurriedly takes his clothes off and opens the door to his wardrobe, only to find the rack is almost empty with the exception of a few suit jackets that he never wash by himself, the ones that must be dry cleaned. Then he realises it's laundry day today. He's been too engrossed in the NASA updates coverage for Juno Mission arrival at Jupiter the entire afternoon. With a pout, he stuffs the ball of soda-soaked shirt into the almost full laundry bag, takes one of the thicker jackets off the rack and put it on. 

It's only autumn but the chill in the air is already enough to send a minor shiver though Adam as steps out of the front door. He is about to walk down the stairs to the laundry room when he hears thunder-loud noises of repeated banging on metal echoing in the hallway. The wall lights are not on yet. Under the dim illumination from the gloomy sky above, Adam can barely make out the moving shadow in the hallway. 

Startled, his fingers instinctively tightens the grip on the bag he is carrying. 

The rapid arm movement that syncs perfectly with the loud banging and random curses that echo in the confined space tells Adam that the dark figure of a man standing at the bottom of the stairs seems to be hitting the lock of the metal laundry room door violently with a blunt object. Adam cannot register any of the muffled curse words, they do not sound like English. 

A burglar? Breaking into the laundry room? Adam's first thought is, naturally, fleeing back to his apartment immediately. Maybe he should call the cops once he has locked his own door. But then, where else could he go to get his laundry done? He really needs to to get his laundry done. Torn between leaving and staying, Adam stands fidgeting at the top of the staircase, unsure what to do. 

It's when the strange man notices his presence, and pauses his violent beating. 

"Hello?" The man walks up the stairs and approaches Adam. "Finally! Someone is here! Hello!"

When the man's face slowly comes into the light, Adam can see him better now. He's a middle-aged man with a chaotic halo of curly ashen hair that seems largely uncombed. His widened eyes darting around, accessing the situation like a cautious animal. There is an oddness in the shape of his nose, and under the seemingly recently trimmed mustache, the man has a harelip that reveals the tip of an oddly sharp canine tooth. 

The harelipped man stops his steps at a short distance from Adam as they lock eyes. Upon seeing Adam, his demeanour escalates from very aggressive to aggressive, then the aggressiveness is gone entirely. He looks up at Adam as if he is a heavenly saviour of some sort, his face is flushed and his eyes luminous, his posture almost polite. 

Adam quickly realises that the man is holding a wooden rolling pin...a huge wooden rolling pin. It appears that he has been fiercely hitting the lock of the laundry room door with it before Adam's arrival. The rolling pin in the strange man's hand could be a potential weapon, Adam glares at him with alarmed eyes and slack lips. He wants to turn and run, but an untimely wave of panic rises in his chest. His legs are glued to the ground in fear, and he cannot move them at all

The man, waiting expectantly for Adam's reaction with a half-grin, remains in stunned silence until his patience is exhausted, which doesn't take very long.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" The man tries again, this time with more force in his voice, and the pace of his speech quickens. There is a peculiar accent in the unknown man's loud cheery voice. "I'm talking to you! It's rude not to reply when you're being spoken to, you know that?" 

"What- what do you want?" Adam asks in a small voice.

“Oh, so you do hear me? Good, for a second I thought you are deaf and mute." The man says, his voice seems genuinely relived. "Is this open? I mean, to residents. Why is the door locked? Do you have a key?"

He rattles the lock on the metal door to emphasise his point. 

Adam, slightly relaxed because the man doesn't seem violent anymore to him, but then he can't be too sure because he's never good at reading people.

"Oh." Adam says. "Uh, yes, I have a key."

"Good! Good! I just moved in. Actually, _we_ just moved in. I moved in with my brother Gabriel. He's not as handsome, or as smart, or as interesting as me, but if you want I can introduce him to you. Not today though please because he is having a meeting at the university. Gabriel, you know, he's a, he's a philosophy professor, and he's been hired here in one of the universities in Manhattan. I can't remember which one. That's why I am here, that's why I am here with him. Looking after my little brother." The man rolls his eyes dramatically. "My name is Elias, 3A."

He extends his large hand towards Adam with an enthusiastic grin. He's almost giddy, his expression expectant, as if he is testing some newly learned tricks on the smaller man. 

Adam has never been one who is comfortable in social situation. He reaches out his hand awkwardly, and shakes the man's hand with hesitance. He even makes himself put on a very forced smile that looks almost like grimace. He addresses the man with one more minute nod, it seems like the right thing to do in return. 

"Adam. Second floor. Two." Adam says, before turning around stiffly, ready to leave. 

Elias looks startled. Confused, his eyes keep shifting around, judging Adam's naked chest under the suit jacket openly. He points at the battered metal door with open mouth. Due to the slight deformity, a bit of his teeth is always showing. Adam notices his gleaming teeth are slightly crooked.

"You're not doing your laundry? Looks like a bit of an emergency." Elias hisses an odd, exaggerated laugh as he gestured at Adam's bare chest. "Would you mind letting me in? I can't get in because the stupid landlord didn't give me a key. I really think there's something wrong with his head. I really do. He has some mental problems."

Too much information, why does he talk like that? Adam narrows his eyes and takes out his keys. "Oh. Uh. Yeah. Sure."

Elias tucks his rolling pin back into his waistband, and accepts the keys with a grateful nod. Surprisingly, he manages to open the door without any further struggle. He let Adam enters the dimly lit room first, then cautiously follows him close like a scared child in a way that Adam finds it slightly too close for his liking. The strange man's head bobs up and down as he bent over to examine the washing machines in the room with frowning concentration. 

Adam raises his eyebrows, but he doesn't say anything. He is unsure what to say to the man so he decides to mind his own business, and begins loading his laundry methodically into the washing machine in the far end that he always uses. 

Elias straightens his back. He keeps stealing glances at Adam while he is loading his own giant bag of clothes to be washed into the adjacent washing machine. 

"This place is very small, very small compared to our place back home on the Island of Ork. Ork is in Denmark, in case you didn't know -" Elias begins babbling deliriously on about himself. Adam has never heard of the Island of Ork before. "but it's right around the corner from Wildwood. So -" 

He's assuming Adam is listening to his ongoing speech. In fact, the silent Adam has been listening to every word he says.

"Can you see the sky from the third floor?" Adam asks out of the blue. 

Elias frowns, looking legitimately offended. 

"You interrupted me. I'd like you not to do that again." Elias points out. "But in answer to your question, I guess I would if the windows weren't covered in soot."

Adam doesn't seem to be too bothered with the man's rudeness, instead, he nods in understanding, "Oh, I see."

"- Some nerve, right...calling a school in the middle of Manhattan Wildwood? That's just absurd. It's just temporary, actually. The job, not the name of the school. They somehow believed me when I told them I've worked at the kindergarten back in Denmark. They are all so stupid. Ha! I really hope that there is no stuffed fox in their classroom." Elias resumes his speech. His laugh is exaggerated and he goes into giddy fits of delight. "- So, Adam, what do you do?"

Adam turns his face towards Elias, but his eyes are not making contact with Elias' intense stare. "Uh, I help make toys."

"Oh, you're an elf?" Elias exclaims.

Elf? A frown appears on Adam's face. "No, I'm an electronic engineer."

When Adam finishes filling the washing machine with his laundry, he turns the dial and clicks on the setting buttons before starting the wash with a swipe of his card. 

"Oh. You need a card for the wash." Elias points at the swipe card in Adam's hand like it is the biggest revelation of the century. "Funny. I think I left mine upstairs in my packet. I didn't know the card is to be used here. The stupid landlord has never explained anything to me. Assuming a man who arrived from Denmark two days ago to know everything? Like I said, I'm sure he has some mental problems. Could I borrow yours for now?"

This man Elias is so strange, his pattern of speech is almost chaotic, laced with redundant information, but there is an unusual bluntness that Adam finds him actually easier to comprehend than most people. 

"Okay." Adam replies, his gaze remains fixed on a specific point in the air behind Elias, his nervous fingers still gripping onto his swipe card way too tightly.

Elias turns around, curious of what Adam is looking at so intently, but he finds nothing interesting at the back of the room. When he turns back to Adam, he raises his eyebrows questionably.

"The card?" Elias prompts Adam not very subtly.

"Oh. Right." Adam whispers, and hands him the swipe card.

Elias beams at Adam.

"Thank you," he says. "Thank you, Adam. I can see that you are a good person, I think we can get along very well."

The man looks like he is about to give him a hug. Being touch sensitive, Adam raises his eyebrows and stumbles back in reflex. 

"Please don't do that." Adam tells him with lowered gaze.

Elias seems visibly hurt by Adam's refusal. 

"I - I just want to say thank you, I didn't mean to be rude. Was I being rude? I would like to apologise if I was rude." He explains himself urgently.

"It's not..." Adam says. "I have this, um - I just don't like to be touched or hugged without permission. And, um, I don't - I don't really know you." 

The answer satisfies Elias and relieves his nervousness instantly. 

"I'm just trying to be friendly. You see, I don't have any friends here in America, or girlfriends, yet. I can see that you are not a stupid person, and I want to be your friend. Can I be your friend?" Elias explains. He nods dramatically as though he's understood something of great significance. "Adam, may I give you a hug?" 

Adam tilts his head like a confused puppy. So Elias from Denmark is just trying to be polite. After some serious considerations, he lifts the right corner of his mouth upwards into a minute grin and nods. He stiffens the moment physical contact is made, bracing himself for the discomfort. 

A faint blush creeps up Elias' face from his neck as he loops his arms carefully around the smaller man. 

"I'm glad to have you as my first friend here, Adam." Elias says solemnly, there is a gleam in his eyes as tears well in them, but Adam cannot see them because Elias is still holding on to him almost too tightly. "I am a very popular man, and I am a good friend. I'm sure I will have many friends here in the future, but I'm glad that you are willing to be my first friend."

The hug is all a bit awkward. 

Elias is gentle at first, eventually he starts shifting his weight on Adam, and soon he is crushing the smaller man with his weight. The warmth from Elias' embrace is not exactly unpleasant, Adam notes. On the contrary, the very, very tight hug feels kind of nice, comforting and assuring.

—

Later that night, just when Adam is about to play the Julia Roberts video on his laptop for dinner as usual, someone knocks urgently on his door. He cracks open the door in confusion. 

The weird man Elias presses his face against the narrow opening, he peers in the crack at Adam, his eyes keeps darting left and right as he takes in whatever he can see in Adam's apartment. He appears flustered and frustrated, his expression edgy, and his face is reddened with discomfort. He groans as a wave of something unpleasant rips through him internally. 

"Adam? Adam! It's me! Elias!" He says urgently with a hushed voice. "May I borrow some toilet paper?"

Adam's mouth drops and his eyes narrow. "What?"

"Toilet paper." Elias speaks slower, hoping he is pronouncing the word clearly under his breath. "May I borrow some? A roll maybe? Is that okay? How many do you have? I locked myself out of my apartment, and my keys are inside. I tried calling Gabriel but he's not picking up his phone, and- and he's not back yet. Why is he not back yet? What's taking him so long? It's so late already. That's just typical...Stupid Gabriel...Uh! - Adam, it's really urgent. May I borrow some toilet paper?"

Maybe the man has an upset stomach? Adam opens the crack wider. 

"You can use the bathroom here." Adam offers.

A startled expression appears on Elias' face, as if he's deeply insulted, or embarrassed.

"No, I can't - I can't use your - Just - " Elias stutters, "May I get some toilet paper? Is that okay? Please?"

Adam bites his lips and stares at the strange man for a long while, before he sighs and answers, "Okay."

He leaves the door ajar as he disappears shortly, before returning with a new roll of toilet paper in his hand. 

Elias grins at him with full teeth showing along with squinted eyes. He snatches the toilet paper roll from Adam, and leaves abruptly as if he was never there. "Thank you, Adam. Thank you." 

The strange man is no longer in sight but Adam can hear him running along the corridor and perhaps up, or down, the stairs with heavy and very urgent footsteps that sounds almost comical. 

Utterly confused, Adam shrugs and returns to the dinner table, ready to begin his meal.

A steaming plate of macaroni and cheese with the side of boiled frozen broccoli is waiting. 

" _All of which gives us the rare opportunity..._ " Adam speaks along the man's voice in the video as the interview starts playing on his laptop. " _\- to explore the mysterious terrain...that lies between fame and craft...between the public persona and the private, precious self. Ladies and gentlemen, the Actors Studio is proud to welcome...an actress we admire...Julia Roberts._ "

The audience begins applauding in the video, Adam scoops some macaroni and cheese into his mouth and chews thoughtfully. 

—

 

About a week later, Adam meets the weird man who lives upstairs again for the third time. 

It's a rather bright and delightful Saturday morning. Adam is sitting on the front steps of the building as usual. It's something that he does at the same time every weekend, observing passersby in the street with his laptop on his lap. 

Elias appears from around the corner, carrying a jumbo pack of toilet paper under his arms while pulling a trolley cart stuffed full with grocery items behind him. He kicks open the metal entrance gate to the apartment steps - he kicks it three times with comically exaggerated impatience - before finally manages to pass through the gate with all the things he is carrying. 

"Hello, neighbour." Elias greets Adam cheerfully. He is breathing hard, and there is sweat dripping down his face. 

Adam looks up from the laptop and smiles politely at Eilas, before returning his attention to the screen. 

"There are new images of Saturn from the Cassini Project." Adam says.

Elias has never heard of the Cassini Project, if he had he would have contributed some feedbacks about it. He struggles dramatically as he haul the cart of heavy groceries up the steps one at a time, dropping heavy hints to Adam about how heavy they are, hoping the younger man would at least help him with the bulky pack of toilet paper. 

Adam, however, is not even looking at him, he seems completely oblivious to what Elias is hinting. 

Knowing that Adam is not going to help, Elias thins his lips into a tight line and concentrates on the work at hand. As he passes by Adam's side, he pauses and turns around out of curiosity. What exactly is Adam looking at that seems so much more interesting than him? 

Elias bents forward and squints his eyes as he looks at the screen on Adam's laptop. There are multiple images of planets and space pulled up side by side from a NASA website.

"Oh. I've seen them in the papers." Elias comments half-heartedly. He has never seen those images before, but he has a large collection of Man in Space trivia quizzes that he has intimate knowledge of, and he remembers them all...well almost remembers them all. A proud grin appears on his face as he silently congratulates himself for lying so brilliantly. "I always wish I knew more about space."

Upon hearing this, Adam snaps his head up in surprise, he gives Elias a shy, genuine smile. "You did? Like what?"

Elias freezes. 

Adam's smile is extremely adorable. Adam is an adorable, adorable small man. The profile of Adam's face has a feminine quality to him that makes him almost qualify for the descriptive word 'pretty'. Although he seldom looks direct at Elias, his eyes are curiously blue and clear and smart. In fact, Adam is the most beautiful man Elias has ever seen. 

He looks more attractive than most women that Elias has dated in the past - and Elias he has dated _a lot of_ women in the past. If he is honest with himself, Elias is forever proud of the fact that he is so much more successful in seducing women than his brother Gabriel. 

Elias takes in a deep breath of air, trying hard to refrain himself from staring at Adam but fails. He gives in and let his eyes roam over the smaller man, taking in everything Adam, including the way he bats his eyelashes while patiently awaiting a reply from him...Elias feels his cock is already stirring to life. 

A blush creeps quickly up to his cheeks as the familiar urge to masturbate begins to haunt him.

"I don't know. You know, what's out there." Elias laughs uneasily. He makes himself look away from the attractive Adam, and resumes his struggle with the groceries. 

The hopeful smile on Adam's face fades as he pouts and returns his gaze to the screen, "You have to narrow that down."

"Yeah, yeah." Elias fakes a laugh again, hoping to hide the fact that his cock is beginning to swell under his loose pants. The heavy tightness at his groin is getting very uncomfortable, distracting. "I guess you're right."

"Well, I have books, telescopes, star charts. You could borrow some stuff. We could go out, look at the sky," Adam offers, he" looks up at the very flustered Elias, completely unaware of how nervous Elias is behaving. "...t-tonight."

The imagery of Adam lying beside him under a night sky full of stars is the last thing Elias needs right now. He really needs to...He really needs to...- 

"Maybe sometime. Sure." Elias mumbles under his breath urgently. 

"Okay." Adam, surprised, turns to look at him with a gleam in his eyes. 

Nodding his head most enthusiastically to indicate 'yes', Elias exhales a huge sigh of relief and takes a brief rest at the top of the steps after winning his first battle with the groceries. 

"Well, I'll just be hauling these enormous grocery bags upstairs now." Elias tells Adam. 

"Okay." Adam's low, delighted chuckle sends another wave of emotion through him. 

"Okay." Elias grunts and flees the scene before any further conversation is possible. 

—

A dull ache courses through Elias' muscles and bones after he's dropped the heavy groceries on the floor and closes the door to his apartment. 

He's all sweaty and out of breath. He would practically run all the way to the third floor due to his emergency, if not for the heavy groceries that he has to carry home. So instead he has to drag everything up the winding stairs one step at a time. He whines and sweats profusely with every step he takes as the coarse fabric he is wearing keeps brushing against his increasingly sensitive cock.

Several other neighbours has passed by, but none of them offer to help him. The fact is, all residents living in the building are scared of the pair of strange brothers from Denmark on the third floor. They have a general dislike of them, first and foremost because the brothers do not exactly look and behave 'normal'. They are weird, especially the stronger one named Elias who always appears grumpy and angry and intimidating and violent and way too chatty, and possibly dangerous too. Most of them resolve to treat the brothers as if they do not exist. They do the same thing to the equally weird Raki kid on the second floor, the 'computer nerd' whom's father passed away some times ago. People are cold and cruel like that. 

The empty two bedroom apartment is dark and cold, Gabriel is not at home again, and he hasn't even left a note for Elias. Elias finds it very rude, he suspects Gabriel is dating someone, it makes him feel sad and lonely even thinking about the possibility. 

Elias feels awful. 

Gravely, he drags himself into the bathroom, and while preparing the shower, he shreds his clothes and looks himself in the mirror a bit. His cock emerges from its confinement, angrily red and swollen. 

His cock always feels like it's constantly pulsing and angrily red anyway, Elias sighs in frustration. 

When the shower is ready, Elias practically jumps into it. He groans in relief as the steaming hot water washes over his aching body. Bracing himself against the cold, white tiled wall, Elias' free hand automatically goes down to reach for his thick, throbbing cock. He begins sliding his hand up and down the shaft. With his eyes squeezed close, he imagines a foreign hand teasing and massaging his member, the imaginary palm and fingers exerting the exact amount of pressure that he prefers, taking care of him. 

The wonderful sensations of masturbation take over all his senses. Elias has no idea how much time has passed before he orgasms with his usual quirky, loud moan that echoes in the small, steamy bathroom. His mind is still floating in a haze of bliss, but Elias vaguely remembers the face he sees in his fantasy before going over the edge. 

Not surprisingly, the face belongs to his new, beautiful friend Adam. 

—

Emerging from the shower, Elias feels refreshed, and his confidence returns again. 

He looks good, presentable, Elias smile satisfactorily as he checks himself out in the mirror. He dresses himself in a fresh, white polo shirt and cargo shorts. He quickly makes his way downstairs, hoping to see Adam again...

But before that, he doesn't forget making some sandwiches for lunch. A quick sandwich made with the block of cheese Josef insisted him bringing. He intends to share the food with Adam, and he hopes Adam likes cheese. 

His upper lip curls in delight when he finds Adam at where he left him earlier. The younger man is still sitting on the steps, but his laptop is now closed, his eyes staring blankly ahead, his expression lost and dreamy.

Adam is really beautiful, Elias muses.

"What are you doing?" he asks as he joins Adam at the steps.

"Um. People watching." Adam answers with a bored, flat voice. "Hello, Elias." 

Elias never finds complete strangers interesting, unless they are attractive looking women. "Anyone in particular? Pretty ladies?"

 _Why is Adam not looking me in the eye? Why is he not looking at me?_

"Just people." Adam shakes his head, his nose sniffs the air like a small puppy, but he's looking everywhere except at Elias's face. "You smell good."

Stunned by the comment, Elias beams at Adam. "I- I have a shower. I always smell good after shower." 

_Does Adam _know_ that he fantasised about him? What if he _knows_? _

"Um, Adam. Are you hungry? I hope you are hungry." Pretending that he is definitely not panicking within, Elias asks as if nothing has happened. With hands shaking in nervousness, he presents Adam with the warm cheese sandwich he has prepared. "- Not that I actually hope that you are hungry, but - I feel hungry, and wonder if you'd be hungry too."

Adam understands what Elias mean, and he's glad that Elias asked. 

"Oh." Adam stares at the offered food, but he is not taking it. "What's in it?"

"Cheese." Elias replies.

"Oh okay." Adam gives Elias a smile that warms his heart like the melted gooey cheese in between the grilled bread. 

Adam's father used to make this kind of sandwich for Adam when he was young. He accepts Elias' sandwich gladly. He takes a hesitant sniff, before nibbling a corner of the sandwich as if testing if the food is poisonous. 

The cheese in the centre of the sandwich is not the same type as the one his father used to use, but it doesn't taste bad. In fact, it doesn't taste bad at all. It's like the sauce in macaroni and cheese, but much more flavourful. 

Adam relaxes and takes a larger bite. "It's delicious, thank you."

Elias doesn't miss the flash of happiness in Adam's eyes. 

"You are welcome, Adam." Elias whispers, mercerised by Adam's smile. "You are very welcome. The cheese is made by my brothers. It's good, isn't it?"

Adam's eyes widen. "Your brother knows how to make cheese? At home? On third floor?"

"No, no. The cheese is made by my other brothers back home in Denmark." Elias laughs. "Well, they are not my brothers, but my half-brothers. They are all idiots that no ladies would want, would you want to me to tell you about them?"

Adam considers, he's not very interested in Elias' family for now, so he shakes his head and tells him directly. "No." 

"Okay. They are all weirdos anyway," Elias doesn't seem particularly offended. "but they make the best cheese in the world."

"Do they know how to make macaroni and cheese too?" Adam asks.

Elias thinks of the bland chicken and boiled vegetables that they shared during their fights over the animal plates. He does't recall eating any macaroni and cheese. 

"My brothers are awful cooks. I don't know. There is cheese in it, correct?" Elias scratches his head. "What exactly is macaroni and cheese, Adam?" 

—

Five hours later, Gabriel gapes at Elias openly in the apartment he shares with his half-brother, brain short-circuiting at the thought of Elias having dinner at a new friend's house on the eighth day of their new life together in America.

Growing up, Gabriel has never liked Elias very much. Gabriel is the one who always wants to change himself in order to be 'normal'; Elias, on the other hand, always chooses to embrace his nature. He is good with conflict, he speaks their language. Their personality and way of life of the two brothers is just too different for them to get along without conflicts.

"Who are you going to eat dinner with?" Gabriel questions Elias, voice demanding. His older brother is giddily cutting up some slices of cheese to bring along with him to Adam's apartment. "Did he invite you for dinner? How did it happen? Is he a gangster? You are always attracted to the problematic types, the weird ones."

Knowing Elias' personality quirks well too well, Gabriel never expects him to find any friends before he does, he never expects him to find any friends at all. So when Elias tells him he is going to a friend's house for dinner with a smug, victorious grin, he feels terribly forlorn, and cautious. The 'friend' better not be someone with ill intentions. Based on his observation so far, America is not exactly the safest place on Earth.

Elias frowns, "That is very rude, Gabriel. Adam is not problematic, and certainly not weird. Well, yes he may be a little weird, but you're weird too. I'm weird. We are all weird. It's fine to be weird."

"I am _normal_ , Elias." Gabriel swallows his protest as he struggles with his involuntary gag reflex.

Gabriel was reluctant to bring Elias along with him to America, to tell the truth. There's not a good thing ever happened in the past when his weird brother is around. He is still ashamed of having such weird brothers, even after he's learnt the truth about their father, and their _biology_. When he decided to take the job offer from the university, Elias stubbornly insists to follow Gabriel half across the world, despite hearing Gabriel's loud and clear NO. 

"I would really like to go with you, Gabriel." Elias is on the brink of tears when he said it.

Then when Gabriel sees Elias cries in the chair, throwing his own brand of tantrum by pushing everything within reach onto the floor with gentle fingers like a giant child, Gabriel sighs and gives in. 

Elias is his brother, his family, after all. He can't leave him alone.

"I've told you Gabriel, he lives downstairs. He's a genius who is very good with computers. He likes astrophysics, stars, and space, and cheese. I've told you before, Gabriel, all your girlfriends are secretively in love with me because I am a very attractive man. You shouldn't be surprised that I manage to make a friend before you do." Elias snorts at his own brilliance, and Gabriel snorts at Elias who would never admit the fact that he has no lucky with women in his entire life.

"Oh! Look what I've found in that old cabinet, Gabriel! Must be something left behind by the last family who lived here." Elias exclaims.

"What?" Gabriel drawls. "What is it?"

While searching for some decoration for his plate of cheese, Elias unearths a pack of unopened birthday cake firework candles from a stuck drawer of an ancient looking cabinet in the living room.

"It's perfect." Elias' teeth are all showing when he flashes a huge grin at Gabriel, and his little brother rolls his eyes in exaggerated disbelief. 

—

Standing alone before the door to Adam's apartment, Elias realises that he can't knock on the door with both of his hand holding painfully tight on the tray of cheese. After clumsily fidgeting with it forever, he finally decides to put the tray down on the floor in the corridor first. 

Not long after knocking on the door violently hard, Elias can hear Adam's approaching footsteps. He hurries back to his tray of cheese, lighting the firework candles as fast as he can, picking the tray up again with utmost care, before resuming his position in front of the door. When he hears the door unlocked, his heart begins beating very fast. He can't wait to see Adam's reaction. 

Adam opens the door to find Elias standing in the dimly lit corridor with the widest grin. 

"Look, Adam, I have cheese." Elias says proudly, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

The older man is wearing a formal suit jacket, white in colour and at least one size too big for him. In his hands, he is holding proudly a silver tray. There are cheese slices randomly arranged on it, most of them are unevenly cut very likely with a blunt knife that is not sharp enough to do its job. And the most peculiar thing of that all is the mismatched sparkling candle stuck atop a larger chunk of cheese. 

The candle is slowly burning, shooting sparks of fire, light and stars in the air.

"Wow." Adam tries to suppress a grin, he can't take his eyes off the sparkling stars. 

It's the most illogical combination of random things, it's the most ridiculous thing ever happened in Adam's life. And it feels oddly sentimental, and endearing.

Elias remains standing awkwardly in the doorway until the candle finally burns out. 

"Um, Adam?" Elias prompts. "May I come in now?"

"Oh." Adam takes a step back and let Elias step through. "Um, please, come in."

Elias looks at Adam expectantly like a giant child as he sets two plates of macaroni and cheese with the side of boiled frozen broccoli neatly on the table. He leans forward, the whiff of aroma from the freshly prepared frozen ready meal is enticing. His cleft lips curled back in a leer and a grin, bearing his crooked teeth as he takes an tentative bite. 

The creamy, gooey, oozy dish is the best thing Elias has ever tasted.

"This macaroni and cheese thing tastes very good, Adam. I wish I could eat this every day." Elias comments. 

"I do eat this every day." Adam nods in agreement.

Unlike the mealtime he had with his brothers, dinner with Adam is calming, quiet, unchaotic, the white noise in the background from a video that Adam insists on playing during dinner is strangely comforting.

"It's nice to have you as a friend, Adam." Elias says with a gleam in his eyes. "You are a very good friend."

Adam doesn't have many friends besides Harlan, and he doesn't have many opportunity with friends. He regrets it immediately right after he's invited Elias over for dinner and he's been overwhelmed with anxious anticipation and panic sensation the entire afternoon before Elias' arrival. 

It's been a long time since Adam last ate with company, and he is relieved to find that he genuinely enjoys sharing dinner with his new, weird friend Elias.

—

Adam has long finished setting up the planetarium in the living room when Elias returns.

Shortly after dinner, with flushed face and sparkling eyes Elias excuses himself and runs back upstairs to take care of some very urgent business. 

"Okay." Adam just shrugs. 

Elias seems to be a very busy man sometimes.

When Adam hears the same loud and urgent knock on the door, a relief washes over him. Elias is taking so long he thought he might not come back down again.

And he hasn't even show him the stars yet.

"Hello." Elias enters the darkened room with large, confident strides. "Why is it so dark, Adam? Something wrong with the lights? Do you need me to take a look?"

"No, there is nothing wrong with the lights. I have something to show you." Adam frowns and smiles. "Come in. Come in."

When the door is properly closed, Adam clicks a switch in his hand, a starry sky explodes from the projector, the entire room is covered by stars from floor to ceiling, it is as if they are floating in space.

The stars projection in the room is beautiful, it's something beautiful that Elias has never encountered in his entire life. Blue lights reflected from Elias' tear filled eyes shimmer in the dark, his parted lips slack with innocent wonder as he gazed at the ceiling. 

"You said you want to know more about space," Adam says. "but tonight's weather may not be optimal for stargazing."

For once, Elias is truly loss for words. With his eyes still fixing on the ceiling, he approaches the old, battered couch and sinks into the seat with a thud.

Adam takes a seat next to him, but he seemed content just to sit, his back stiffly straight.

Taking Elias' silence as an invitation to proceed with he explanation, Adam begins, "—Because it looks like this, people think of it as still...even though we know its expanding. All parts of the universe are moving away from one another...most of them faster than the speed of light, except for-"

"I thought nothing went faster than the speed of light." _Trivia knowledge._ Elias raises his hand and asks. "Sorry, I interrupted. I won't do it again."

Instead of getting mad for his rudeness, Adam beams at Elias' question. "Right, right. Nothing goes through space faster, but space itself. Um, okay, do you know about the Big Bang?"

"A little. In the beginning, God crea–" Elias recalls in disgust the book of Bible that Gabriel made everyone read.

Adam is particularly chatty tonight, Elias notes. Unlike Elias, who is way too chatty and has an opinion on everything, Adam acts this way only when it comes to a topic he is really interested.

And like listening to bedtime stories his brothers used to read to one another before bedtime, Elias relaxes and leans his head on the headrest. 

"The inflation theory says the Big Bang came from as little as a 20-pound chunk of space...about 14 billion years ago that expanded to the size of the universe  
in 10 to the minus-39 seconds."

"Ten to the minus-39?" Elias has no idea this number can exist. 

"It's a- It's a decimal point, 39 zeros, and then a one." Adam explains. "That's the fraction of a second in which the universe was formed. That's billions and billions of times faster than light."

"Ooh, that's... fast. That's very fast, am I right? It's -" Elias asks, realising that he is interrupting again, he pauses himself.

"Yeah." Very glad that Elias is interested in space at all, Adam clicks the switch in his hand with delight.

The projected stars begin to rotate and move on the wall and on the ceiling. 

"Wow! The stars are moving!" Elias exclaims. 

"Uh, these are all pictures of stars and galaxies that have been traveling away from us for hundreds of millions or billions of years. But that's still nearby compared to  
most of the universe that we'll never see."

Too engrossed in listening to Adam's voice, this astrophysics knowledge is a lot for Elias to comprehend, but he tries to catch up. "Never?" 

"Well, things that move apart faster than light can't ever see one another because the light from one never catches up to the other. After the Big Bang the expansion of the universe slowed down. But then, after seven billion years for some reason it speeded up again, and it's been speeding up ever since. Someday everything you see here will disappear forever. And eventually the night sky will be almost completely dark."

One of the moving stars projected on Adam's face travels past one of his eyes, and his pupil lights up in the dark like the spark from the firework candle. 

Elias inhales a sharp breath as a violent shudder rips through his body. He feels the overwhelming urge to reach down and places a hand in his groin to adjust his hard-on.

Noticing his distraction, Adam quickly stops talking and hurries to the light switch.

Elias literally jumps like he is caught in the act of a kid doing something wrong. 

"I-I have been talking too much, so–" Adam licks his lips, and apologies.

Elias' eyes widens. "No, it's...fascinating."

"I talk too much when I get excited." Adam says.

"No, no. I do that too, you know. That's completely normal." Elias assures him. "It's– It's amazing."

"Well, I-I could tell you quickly about M-brane theory." Adam tries with a hopeful smile. 

"Adam." Elias stands.

Disappointment flashes in Adam's eyes. "Okay. It's very speculative..." 

"Adam?" Elias calls to him again. 

"Yes." Adam bites his lips, ready himself for Elias' departure.

"It's- It's time again. Give me fifteen minutes. I will be down as soon as I can." Elias says urgently, his hand reaching for the door handle. "Then you can tell me about the Membrane Theory."

"M-brane theory." Adam hints.

"M-brane theory." Elias corrects himself. His cock jumps in eager anticipation, hurrying him to do something. "Well, I - I have to go. Fifteen minutes, Adam! Fifteen minutes!"

Elias keeps yelling until his heavy footsteps disappear from the corridor. He runs up the stairs three at a time.

Alone in the living room staring at the door left awkwardly ajar, Adam frowns, then smiles in confusion. "Okay."

And Elias keeps his promise. 

 

...

 

// To be continued


	2. Chapter 2

For four months, there has been a miraculously lack of unfortunate events in Elias' life.

Gabriel and him have settled in their new home and they are getting quite used to their new routines. Gabriel's job is going on really well, and Elias' is not doing very bad either. It turns out if he can control and tone down his bursts of temper, it’s not impossible for Elias to sustain a job.

Over time Adam realises the strange Elias is a lonely man, much like himself despite how popular Elias claims himself to be. Their friendship has grown tremendously, Elias counts Adam as his closest friend, and their feeling seems to be mutual. When Elias teases him about his poor taste in porn, instead of feeling offended, Adam just looks down with the shiest grin.

From time to time, when Gabriel is out - presumably dating some woman who just wants to have children with him - Elias would go downstairs and have Macaroni and Cheese dinner with Adam. 

Holding the bowl in his arm, he'd sit and listen to Adam talking about space exploration, or physics; Or they’d watch a science documentary together. Sometimes, Elias would fall asleep on the unexpectedly comfortable old couch in Adam's living room, he’d even snore a little.

Everything has been going so well that Elias knows something bad is definitely coming his way.

It's a Friday night when Adam comes home to find Elias curls up sitting on the floor with his knees hugged to his chest, waiting for him outside his door. 

The man’s head is bandaged, there are streaks of tears staining his face and dried blood caked on his forehead. He utters a sob as he looks up at Adam with reddened eyes. 

Then Adam notices Elias' moustache is gone, he's cleanly shaved and his cleft lip now appears even more prominent on his face. 

"What happened, Elias?" Adam asks and kneels down beside him.

On an angry whim Elias has shaved off his mustache he has had for years.

"It's gone, and it's not coming back." Elias declares, he scrunches his nose in rage. "If my lips are so ugly, and so scary, I will let them see it. I will make them see it. Making fun of people who are anatomically challenged is very, very rude. Even if he's a child. He’s wrong, right? So why are they blaming me for what happened? I didn't even hurt anyone! Why am I always the one to blame?"

Adam reaches out a tentative finger to trace the edge of Elias' upper lip. "You are not ugly, Elias."

“Could you give me a hug, Adam?” Elias let out a sob. “Please?”

Adam nods minutely, he is not opposed to hugging Elias. “Yes.”

Standing there patiently waiting for the hug to come, the silence soon becomes awkward, Elias then says again, “Adam, I'd like you to give me a hug.”

“Oh, um.” Adam stiffly nods and inches forward, his eyes fixed on a point around Elias’ tummy, then cautiously he circles his arms around Elias’ waist.

“Thank you, Adam.” Elias says gratefully with a sigh. 

With a blunt force, Elias pulls Adam into his arms and drapes himself all over the smaller man. He leans into the touch and closes his eyes, and his entire body shudders with broken sobs as he forces himself to breathes in, breathes out very slowly. 

Frozen on the spot, Adam does't know how to react, so he let Elias cling to him until the heat between them becomes too uncomfortable, and eventually Elias stops crying and let go.

He rushes into Adam’s bathroom and shut the door with a bang like an upset child. Having splashed his face with cold water, the streaks of tears and sweat and blood are rinsed away, Elias returns to the living room and curls himself up on Adam's battered old couch, still appears very upset. 

Adam hands him a mug of steaming hot tea made with his father's remaining English Breakfast tea bags, and he hugs the mug in his palms gratefully, and occasionally raises it to his forehead, letting the heat of the mug sooth his his bandaged wound.

Now significantly calmer, Elias tells Adam what happened at the kindergarten. 

He tells him how a group of kids laughed at him, how he stormed out of the classroom mid-class, and how he chooses to express his rage by hitting his forehead against the mirror repeatedly in the men's room. 

And now the principle is considering firing Elias. 

Without a job, Elias may need to leave the country. 

He may never see Adam again. 

By the time Elias shut up and finishes his tea, Adam has finished drafting a 1236 words complaint letter to the kindergarten principle at the laptop, outlining what exactly happened, and how ‘Facial disfigurement’ became classed as a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act in 1995 and continues to be seen as such under the Equalities Act of 2010, and so to discriminate against someone based on a disfigurement would be against the law. With Elias' approval, Adam sends the letter to the principle on his behalf. 

But Elias is still sulking on the couch stubbornly, staring at the floor with red, tear-streaked eyes, his chest heaved as he struggled to catch his breath. He looks significantly younger now without his moustache, Adam notices. 

Glancing back and forth between the sad Elias and the door, Adam sucks his lips into his mouth. 

"Elias?" Adam calls softly.

"I'm not trying to be rude, Adam, but I just don't feel like talking right now." Elias says quickly in one breath. 

"Oh, that's okay. I wanna show you something. You don't have to say anything. Come out with me." Adam says.

Elias's forearm reaches his face as he rubs his tears away with his sleeves. "Okay."

—

Adam is walking very fast in the dark.

The light from the full moon in the sky casts a white light upon the winding path they are walking on. Although the park is very dimly-lit, the confident pace of Adam's strides shows that he knows his way in Central Park very well.

Elias, following close behind with two fingers holding on to the tail of Adam's cardigan, never stops looking around with restless anxiety, his eyes keeps darting left and right rapidly in alert. 

For a short while, he stops to turn around, see if they are being chased, see if they are in trouble, but what’s in the park is only dead silence.

"Adam, the park's closed. I wanna go back! I'm not–" Elias pleads and tugs on Adam's cardigan.

"J-Just a little bit further." Adam assures him.

"I wanna go back! I'm not joking! Adam -" Elias says urgently. "Adam, I–"

Then Adam feels Elias tugging at his sleeve again, so he turns around, but his eyes is still fixing on a point far away. "Shh-shh-shh. Over here." 

"What -" / "Shh-shh-shh!” Adam hushes him again, and Elias makes himself stop talking. He looks as Adam points out something moving in the dim light.

There is not enough light but Elias can make out the shadow of a very fat animal, and the white fur on its face, round ears and tail. 

Elias squints his eyes. "What is that? Is that...Is that a raccoon?" 

Adam smiles wide and nods vigorously. 

"What are they doing here?" Elias asks in a low, hushed voice.

Another family of raccoons, one large and two small ones, treads lightly not he damp grass, chasing each other and sniffing the air curiously.

"Foraging." Adam says.

"How did you know where they'd be?" Elias asks.

Adam turns to look at Elias in the dark, and their gazes meet. They both feel a stir within, but none of them says anything about it. 

"They live here." Adam sneezes, his sniffs his nose, then explains, "I used to come and watch them a lot. It's quiet. They don't really belong here, you know, but here they are."

Like the raccoons, Adam and Elias don't really belong here, anywhere, but there they are now. 

Every creature is an miracle, beautiful and ugly, fat and thin, good and bad, young and old, animals and humans, and everything in between. 

...

On the following Tuesday, Elias happily informs Adam that the principle miraculously resolves to issue him a warning letter. His job is safe, for now, and he not likely to leave Adam anytime soon.

—

October 31. It’s the brothers’ first Halloween in town.

Gabriel thinks it would be nice to hold a Halloween party in his apartment and invite all his colleagues in his faculty at the college, including his new girlfriend. Unlike Elias, Gabriel sees it very important to blend in, to blend in with the culture in the United States, to blend in with _normal_ people.

Since Gabriel fails to talk Elias out of staying home that night (because “I have to meet your new girlfriend, Gabriel.”). His big brother has always be clingy, childish, attention seeking like that. 

So Gabriel asks Elias to bring a friend, because otherwise he’d be very bored. Elias would definitely cause him a lot of trouble if he was bored. And that friend of Elias, no doubt about that, is going to be Adam because Adam is his only friend. 

He’s a quiet kid, Gabriel has met him once or twice in the corridor. Even thought he isn’t exactly _normal_ , he is not likely to cause any trouble at the party. 

Elias is less likely to cause trouble or talk excessively to strangers at the party if Adam is around.

Upon hearing that there will be a party, a party that is going to be filled with people, Adam refuses Elias’ invitation. He lied to him that he has to stay online waiting for some updates from Mars. But seeing the disappointed pout on Elias face somehow makes Adam feel bad, and reluctantly, he agrees to attend the party, _perhaps for just a while._

“That is great, Adam, very great.” Elias’ teeth are all showing when he beams at Adam. “You need to wear a Halloween costume to the party, though. Gabriel says it’s a custom to wear something special for the festival.”

Adam considers, his father tried to take him trick-or-treating when he was young, utterly frustrated when all little Adam did was hiding behind him at night long. Harlan once said Adam made a very cute little ghost wearing that bedsheet with two holes cut in for him to see out of. It puzzled Adam then and it puzzles him still - Why do people think ghosts look like that? 

“Oh.” Adam nods. He has something special to wear to the party, it’s the only thing he has. “Okay.”

On Halloween night, Adam appears before Elias’ apartment dressed in his beloved space suit, a white NASA Apollo Space Suit replica with the U.S. flag on his left shoulder. 

Adam is slightly disappointed that it’s an unknown woman who answers to the door. The red-haired middle-aged woman leans against the door frame as if she’s the owner of the place, her eyes casually judging Adam. 

Adam habitually avoids the stranger’s gaze, his feet shift uncomfortably. 

“Hello, Mr. Spaceman.” she says, “May I help you?”

“I-I, um, Elias invites me to the party?” Adam stutters.

The woman’s face darkens for a split second, before she fakes a bright smile and opens the door wider. She gestures at the far corner of the already very crowded apartment. 

“He’s, um, he’s over there.” A hint of disgust laced in her voice. “I’m Janet, by the way, Gabriel’s girlfriend.”

“Oh. Nice to meet you, Janet.” Adam nods, and greets her not impolitely. 

The apartment is full of people dressed in colourful costumes, wearing horrible makeup. Half of them are already drunk, chatting and laughing too loudly for Adam’s liking. He lowers his head as he moves through the groups of people who toss him strange looks. Luckily, Adam soon catch a glimpse of a halo of wild curly hair, and his face visibly relaxes. 

Standing at the corner chatting enthusiastically in Danish with an old professor is his Elias, dressed in tennis whites, white shorts and badminton shoes as if he’s just back from a match.

Elias’s childlike innocence and complete lack of filter is obviously making the old professor very uncomfortable because the old man slips away the first chance he has when Elias looks away to wave at Adam like the happiest child in the world. 

“Adam!” Elias grins, his cleft lip lifted to bare his perfect fangs. Adam is still getting used to the lack of his mustache. “Oh-oh! That is really neat. Is that a real space suit?”

Adam smiles shyly. “No, but it's rated for 3,000 pounds.”

When Elias dashes off and returns with a glass of orange red drink, he asks Adam a very random trivia question. Elias loves showing off his trivial knowledge. “Do you know who was the first person to eat in space?”

Adam accepted the glass of weird drink. Taking an experimental sniff, Adam sips on the rim cautiously as if testing if it’s poisonous. It’s orange soda mixed with some kind of very sweet cherry flavour alcoholic syrupy. The taste makes him wince like he is in some kind of pain. 

The space man pauses to think, then replies, “John Glenn. In 1962, America's first man in orbit squeezed applesauce from an aluminium tube into his mouth and proved that man could safely eat in space.”

Elias looks impressed.

Adam then asks him back a question, “What type of sandwich did astronaut John Young smuggle into his spacesuit on Gemini 3?”

“Ha, that’s easy.” Elias takes a large gulp from his lukewarm beer, leaving a moustache of white foam on his upper lip. “Corned beef.”

The two men remains standing at the corner of the noisy room awkwardly out of place, their eyes darting back and forth observing all those people happily socialising with disinterest. They keep asking each other trivial questions about space and science in low voices, their conversations passing back and forth as if they are in a tennis match, until they’re both getting really bored about this ridiculous party. 

“Adam, would you like to go?” Elias finally asks.

Relived, Adam nods, gladly.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Janet notices that Gabriel’s weirdo brother is finally leaving. She hurries to the kitchen to get something, put on a bright smile, then approaches Elias. 

Elias stares at her as if she is his archenemy.

She pushes a tinfoil-covered plate and a plastic bag filled with random cheap candy into Elias’ hands. 

“Here. It’s a pumpkin pie, I made it myself.” Then remembering something most important, she grabs a wrapped present from a nearby shelf. “I brought you something too! Happy Halloween!” 

Startled, Adam asks, “Oh. Are there supposed to be presents?” 

“No, no. It was just a spur of the moment kind of thing.” Janet waves her hand and laughs exaggeratedly. _Because I don’t want you here tonight, dumbass._ “Have fun! Hey, um, Elias? You don't have to come back if you don't want to. Go out! Enjoy your first Halloween here!”

The door is shut before Elias can fire something witty back to the witch (She’s actually dressing as a witch).

When Adam stands in front of his own apartment fetching his keys from a secret pocket in his space suit, Elias is still whining and complaining next to him about Gabriel’s new girlfriend. 

“What does she mean? So I can’t go home to my own home? That is just absurd! Gabriel has really poor taste in women. Just look at the pitiful way he’s salivating over that fat bitch. He’s shockingly pathetic that way…” Elias babbles on as Adam’s finally found the key and let them both in.

Elias tosses the pumpkin pie into Adam’s fridge with a grunt. After so many visits, he is now very familiar with the setting of Adam’s apartment. Adam seldom messes up the places because everything has to be in the exact order he prefers. Elias finds it strange at first, but eventually putting things back where he finds it becomes his habit too.

He tears open the wrapping of the gift. Inside the wrapping are three DVDs, all of them horror movies. The DVDs have been taped together, probably some last minute purchase that Janet bought as a bundle deal.

Ripping away the cellophane, Elias flips the DVDs in his hand. 

_The Conjuring. The Conjuring 2. Annabelle._ What the heck are these?

Adam has disappeared back to his room. When he returns, he’s changed into a soft, grey sweater and flannel pyjama pants with cartoon stars printed on it. The flannel pyjama pants are hanging a bit too low on Adam’s hips, Elias can vaguely make out the butt crack. 

It’s distracting because Adam looks extremely adorable in it. Elias swoons. He feels a stir from inside him, and he groans internally. 

He can’t do it here now, and he can’t go back upstairs. He has no choice but to tamp down his urge to masturbate, trying hard to disguise the grimace on his face with a grin.

He needs a distraction, desperately.

“Would you like to watch a movie, Adam?” Elias asks, his tone pretentiously casual.

“No.” Adam answers bluntly without hesitation. He’s in the kitchen now, boiling water for two cups of tea. They both enjoy drinking English Breakfast tea very much.

“Would you mind watching a movie with me?” Elias asks again. “You can't watch documentaries every night.”

“Okay.” Adam frowns, he picks up The Conjuring and reads the synopsis from the back of the DVD box. _The movie is based on the true case files of a real-life couple Ed and Lorraine Warrens, American paranormal investigators that founded the New England Society for Psychic Research in 1952._ ’Based on true story’, it says. “But why not?” 

Adam has already settled himself on the sofa anyway. He watches calmly as Elias struggles with the television and the DVD player a little before finally getting the movie to play on the screen.

“Because it's a meager life. Lacks stimulation.” Elias answers matter-of-factly.

He fetches a large wooden bowl from the kitchen, pouring all the candies from the plastic bag into it, and hugging it in his arms. He takes off his socks and shoes, hops on to the rather spacious sofa, and seats himself next to Adam at his usually place.

The television screen brightens. 

“Oh, it’s starting.” Elias says giddily as he pops a bunch of rainbow-coloured skittles into his mouth.

He hands Adam the bowl, who shakes his head with disinterest, but when he spots an orange package in the colourful mix, Adam’s face brightens. 

It’s Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. 

Adam doesn’t really like eating sweet things, but he likes Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, a lot.

“Thanks.” It’s been a while since Adam had one.

The eerie movie is starting but all Elias cares about is stealing glances at Adam not very subtly. The smaller man is nibbling neatly on the sugary treat, there’s some chocolate smeared on his lips. 

Elias wonders how his lips taste like.

Without Adam noticing, Elias lowers the large bowl, and balaces it on his lap, conveniently covering the tent in his shorts. 

The horror movie turns out to be not very horrifying. Approximately midway in, Elias has fallen asleep, wrapped himself in a soft and warm plaid blanket. Unconsciously, he inches himself towards the warm body of Adam, his heavy head leaning close to Adam’s head, and his long arm draping one over his waist protectively. The man craves physical contact constantly like a toddler, he craves it even he’s asleep. 

Trapped between the clingy man and the sofa, a soft blush crosses Adam’s cheeks. It’s so warm and cozy to be around Elias, he has never experience that before. The feeling is bizarre, and foreign, and scary, but not unpleasant.

Adam seldom watches movies, let alone horror movies. Instead of making stuff up, why couldn't they write about real events? The description on the DVD says the movie is based on true story of the Enfield Poltergeist haunting, which is partly why Adam agrees to watch it in the first place. But then the movie turns out to be more a work of fiction than a realistic documentary. It’s disappointing.

On television screen, a very scared woman is hyperventilating in the dark, Adam bites his lips, feeling the tension. Strangely, he sort of enjoys the stimulation from the fright in the movie. Then all of a sudden comes two hands clapping over her shoulder ever so loudly, a pointless thrill really, but it startled Adam.

Adam yelps and gasps, his hand grips almost painfully on Elias’ arm, and it alarms the snoring Elias almost immediately. The man jerks awake and jumps up from his seat, standing protectively in front of Adam, his wide eyes glares around the room as if he’s ready to fight and beat someone up.

Adam chuckles at how funny Elias looks. “Sorry, Elias.” 

Elias scratches his head and nods, he offers Adam a dorkiest grin with all teeth showing.

About half way through the second DVD, Adam fell asleep as well. 

The room is getting chilly in the night, Adam sluggishly reaches out, grabs at the blanket on Elias’ lap, and wraps it around both of their shoulders as best as he can manage. His hand accidentally brushes over the hard arousal at the front of Elias’ shorts, but he is too drowsy to notice. 

 

It’s almost dawn when Elias opens his eyes again.

The man yawns and blinks, sleepiness still clouding heavily around the corner of his eyes. On the television is now a blank blue screen, casting an eerie glow on the walls of the quiet living room.

He hears faint snoring noises. 

Then he realises he is lying on the sofa together with Adam, their head resting against a soft pile of cushions, and their bodies wrapped under the same blanket. 

The smaller man is curling against his body, head nestled in the space between his shoulder and chest, his hot breath tickling the hair on his chest under the thin fabric of the polo shirt. One of Adam’s hands is fisting the front of his shirt like a toddler. There is a tiny drop of drool gleaming at the corner of his mouth, his sleeping face peaceful like an angel…Adam has really long eyelashes, and his ears are kind of cute, Elias notices. 

Elias occasionally has cold night sweats. He can feel the uncomfortable cold, moist, and clammy sensation on his skin. It’ll be nice to take a hot shower now. It’ll be nice to take a hot shower with Adam.

A sudden visions of Adam’s body dripping wet and soapy had his morning wood hard to ignore. He utters a low groan as he slowly reaches down to feel his arousal, his fingers try rubbing his cock giving it some pressure, he avoid moving too drastically in fear of waking Adam from his slumber. 

As he leans forward ever so slightly and takes in the faint sweet scent in Adam’s hair, his nostril flares like a curious baby bull. He wriggles around awkwardly until he can get a hand under him, trying all he can to jerk himself off…squeezing lightly every few seconds without moving up or down, rutting against something that is not part of Adam’s body…He utters a low frustrated grunt.

Even thought he can feel his cock is already throbbing and sensitive and probably angrily red, it’s impossible for him to make himself come like that. The pressure and friction is just not enough. 

It’s a torturing sensation, Elias let out a helpless sob and bites his lips. 

But he really doesn’t want to wake Adam. If Adam knows about his weird compulsive masturbation, he would probably think him a weirdo, a disgusting creep, like everyone else in his life does. 

Adam will leave him, and he will be alone again.

No matter how much he boasts, Elias has always been alone. Feeling unwanted and unloved all his life, Elias just doesn’t want to be left behind anymore. 

He likes Adam, he like him very much, and he wants him to stay. 

“Never let me go, Adam.” Elias murmurs. He closes his eyes as tears begin to well up at the corner of his eyes.

—

 _"I've got to let you go. I'm so sorry, Adam. Kelli has your severance. It's been a pleasure working with you."_

Mr. Klieber's voice is still ringing in Adam's ear even though he is blocks away from where he used to work at. 

Adam is holding a A4 size cardboard box, the box that holds all the belonging he once had on his desk. His entire body is still shaking slightly from the panic attack episode he's just had in the office.

His _ex-office_.

Tears threaten to fall, but Adam tries to keep them at bay. He hugs the cardboard box closer to his chest, and he runs.

—

The sigh on the metal fence of Wildwood School is inscribed with the name of the school in large font.

Adam crosses the parking lot, his mind completely blank as he walks solemnly towards the school with the cardboard box still hugging in his chest.

The play yard of the school is perfectly mowed, cheerful looking slide and swings sit perfectly in the middle. 

It's recess time. Classes of children have been released into the playground. The children run on to the lawn and leaps on the colourful slide and swings, laughing and screaming hysterically as they run and chase each other.

Adam watches them with blank eyes. He has never had the pleasure to enjoy such company, and happiness. - Not until he's met Elias. 

He really wants to see Elias. When a teacher comes out, he cranes his neck to see better, only to find that the teacher is a young woman but not Elias.

Disappointed, Adam retreats in his mind, and let himself drift, it's what he always does when he is upset. 

_People-watching._

A noisy engine stops behind Adam, and two police officers get out from the vehicle.

They watch Adam with alerted eyes. 

"Excuse me, sir. What are you doing there?" One of them asks.

Adam turns around, confused. 

"I said, what you doin'?" The officer repeats.

Adam tells them the truth. "Watching the children."

He hears a hiss of laugh and head shake from the other officer. "Uh-huh. Let me have some I.D., sir."

A panic begins to rise in Adam's chest, and his voice gets emotional and loud.

"I-I-I was looking at the children." Adam explains again.

The police officers notice right away there is something wrong with Adam. 

"Sir, turn around. Put your hands on the fence, please." 

Now Adam is really scared. 

"Why–Why are you doing this?" He stammers softly.

"Lean forward, put your hands on the fence, please. Turn around! Hands on the fence!" They order in raised voices together.

The cardboard box drops with a loud thud to the ground when Adam is forced to put his hands on the black metal bars. He feels the unpleasant touch of the officer's hand in his back pocket. He flinches and quavers, "What–What are you doing?"

"I'm taking your wallet out of your back pocket to check your identification, sir." The police officer thins his lips as he reads from his ID. "1 5-Adam to Central-K, I need a name check. Adam Raki."

The entire yard of children comes to a halt, they gather in front of the fence at a safe distance, their little eyes watching Adam in fear and disdain. 

It's a humiliating situation. Adam feels his eyes burning, but he doesn't cry.

Teachers quickly come running out of the building, and quickly urge the students back into their classroom. "Let's go. Let's go!"

"Is this the man you reported?" The officer asks one of the more senior teacher.

"I wasn't the one who saw him." The teacher shrugs and replies.

"Everything's fine. Go on back inside. Where do you live, sir?" The officer says to the kids. 

Adam, realising that the officer is now talking to him, tries to turn and answer, but the officer yells at him to stay where he is. "Do you live or do you have business in this neighbourhood, sir?"

The children chattering has almost ceased when Elias walks into the yard all confused. 

Adam's eyes brighten when he spots him walking around aimlessly in the yard. "Elias!" 

"Adam?" Elias squints his eyes as he walks towards the fence. He looks cautiously between the flashing police car and the tough looking officers, his eyes darting around, accessing the situation. "What's going on?"

The officers asks, "Sir! Are you the one who reported this?"

"Of course not! That's just absurd. Why would I report Adam? What's going on?" Elias splutters.

"You know this man?" 

Elias hisses a laugh. "Absolutely. Yeah, he's my neighbour. What happened? You haven't answered me."

It's when a voice in the police's radio reports, "1 5-Adam. Raki- R-A-K-I. No hits."

"He's clean. All right. Sorry about that. Can't be too careful with kids, right?" The officers tell Elias. "You can go. Mr. Raki."

Elias' face reddens in rage at the officer's comment. He tried open the locked gate without success. In large strides, he runs back into the building, and remerges from the main gate of the school. 

"Can't be too careful with kids?" Did you really just say that? That is really insulting! Why would you say that to Adam?" Elias snarls at the police officers, and walks towards them like an enraged bull.

Before the two officers can react, Elias has strike a punch with enough force to knock the officer off his feet. 

But fortunate or Elias, his feet slips at the very last moment, and his punch misses by only several inches. 

—

Elias has been taken to the station. 

Adam, sitting stiffly in the hard chair with the cardboard box now again hugged against his chest, looks up apologetically at the angrily pacing Gabriel.

Gabriel pauses to look at him, shakes his head, getting a gag reflex in control, and resumes his fierce pacing in the police station.

"Adam!" Elias shouts when he is released from custody. He runs towards Adam and pulls him into a crushing hug in full force. His large hand patting Adam's curls to provide comfort. "It's okay now. Don't worry. Don't worry about me. Let's go home."

Elias picks Adam's heavy cardboard box up with ease, and Adam follows him out of the station with a nod.

Being treated like an invisible man by his own brother, Gabriel pouts and wipes his face in fury, but he manages to get his temper in control. He's not like his other brothers, remember?

—

"Well, that was kind of awful, wasn't it? I mean, you just stopped by to watch the kids. I do that for a living." The fuming Elias is still chattering on and on about the incident when Adam opens the door to his apartment. "Police freak me out too, you know? It's absolutely absurd for them to do this to you. Did you see their faces? I mean, they are typical jerks. I'm sure I can take them if —" 

Adam turns on the lights, he is too tired to even walk.

"Do you wanna come in?" Adam asks.

Elias shut up immediately. "Okay." 

While Adam busies himself with making a pot of hot tea in the kitchen, Elias wanders around the house aimlessly. 

Nothing is out of place, nothing, not a single thing. Adam’s place is so orderly it’s like a polar opposite of the house Elias and his brothers live in in Ork.

There is a door in Adam's house that is always closed every time he visits. Elias turns to make sure Adam is not looking, before turning the knob and sneaks into the room. 

The bedroom is dark and empty and void of any sign of use or furnitures except for the double bed frame standing sadly in the centre of the room. There are sealed card boxes stacked on it, each neatly labelled at the corner with Adam's neat handwriting.

"What are you doing in here?" Adam's confused voice at the bedroom door startles Elias and he jumps backwards. 

The two retreat from the empty bedroom to the living room. Adam hands Elias his mug of hot tea as they settle on the couch.

"Whose room is it?" Elias asks. 

"It's my father's." Adam blows and sips his tea slowly without any intention to consume it.

"Oh! Where is he now?" Elias takes a large gulp from the cup and burns his tongue. 

"Um. He died five months ago.” Adam says.

"Oh. That’s unfortunate.“ Elias nods. "My father is dead too. What about your mother?"

"She died when I was eight." Adam answers half-heartedly, his mind is taking a thoughtful moment. "Elias, can I ask you a question?" 

"About my real mother?" Elias pouts. "Never knew her. She died giving birth to me."

Adam takes a glance at Elias' face. "Oh. I am so sorry."

Elias shrugs. “It's quite alright. Like I said, never knew her." 

"Um, Elias?" Adam says. 

"Yes?" Elias put down his mug and straightens his posture. 

"I had a really nice time in the park on the night we visited the racoons. Do you remember the racoons?“ Adam asks with a small voice. "Were you- were you excited?"

Elias takes up the mug again. He gulps the remaining tea down with an uneasy fake smile. The tea is still very hot and he’s almost burned and choked himself on it. "What?"

Adam clarifies. "Sexually, when we were in the park."

 _He knows?_ Elias stutters. "Um– Uh, no, not exactly. Why would you think so? I - " 

With a hurt expression, Adam looks down at his own reflection in the tea. Adam has prepared himself, but it still hurts a little when Elias says his rejection out loud. 

Elias regrets lying to Adam immediately.

“Oh. Okay then. Well, I ask because I was, and I wondered if you were too." He bites his lips and looks away. “Uh, sometimes I-I-It's hard for me to, um–I have this thing that makes it hard to, um- to a- It's called Asperger's syndrome."

"Asperger's syndrome." Elias nods in understanding, even though he has no idea what Asperger's is. Then eventually, he panics. "What is it? What is Asperger's? Is it a disease? Are you sick, Adam? Are you going to die?"

“Ugh No, Asperger’s is not a fatal disease, no." Adam frowns deeply. "One thing about it is not knowing what people are thinking. When I was younger I would have just thought you were sexually excited because I was. That's called mind blindness. I had to learn to ask what other people are thinking. - Like right now. My brain works differently from N.T.'s."

Elias frowns. "N.T.'s?"

"Neurotypicals." Before Elias interrupts again, Adam continues. "Sometimes I can't understand them, especially when they mean something different from what they're actually saying."

Elias agrees. "Yes. That's the worse. I hate that." 

"Uh, psychologists think it's a lack of imagination. But psychologists are mostly N.T.'s. Albert Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, Mozart, they all had lots of imagination." Adam points out.

"Albert Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, Mozart had Asperger's too?" A grin begins to spread on Elias' face. "Ha! Einstein and his theory of relativity. Einstein is a total idiot, but you are not an idiot, Adam."

"Einstein is not a total idiot." Adam raises his eyebrows. "He got the Nobel Prize in physics."

"Yeah, in 1921. The weakest year ever in the world of physics." Elias counters.

Adam sits back, tilts his chin up and crosses his arms, he gives Elias a challenging stare. 

Their evening takes an unexpected end when the two busy themselves with a frantic fact checking session on Albert Einstein over the internet. 

For a moment, Adam almost forgot how upset he was over being fired from work. It's very late when the almost exhausted Elias bids Adam good night. 

“I- I better go now.” Elias says. “Don’t worry about the job, I'm sure the right thing will come along.”

“How can you be sure of that?” Adam asks, his voice defeated.

Elias wants so bad to comfort him. “I mean, I hope the right thing comes along.”

“Oh. I hope so too.” Adam nods.

Before he opens the door and steps out into the corridor, Elias remembers that he has lied to Adam, and he feels terrible about it. He closes his eyes, contemplating if he should apologise. He is too tired to think clearly. 

Adam notices that Elias' broad shoulders are slightly shaking, but since he has turned his back on him, he cannot see his face. "Elias?" 

“Have a good night, Adam.” Elias blushes, but he doesn’t turn around again. 

—

Reflected light from a kinetic toy that is spinning around on the lawyer’s desk captures Adam’s attention. Five metallic orbits are rotating in midair around a small planet in the centre, a miniature version of the Galaxy.

“-So, assuming you sell, after closing fees and taxes, et cetera-“ The lawyer, Mr. Wardlow, states with his eyes glues on the document in his hand. 

His voice somehow feels distant, and foreign, and Adam can’t concentrate on a word he is saying.

Mr. Wardlow is an old man, an old friend of his father. He takes his eyes away from the document in his hand, and he is looking at Adam now, appalled to find that Adam seems to be distracted, again. 

“- Sell what?” Adam frowns and looks up from his seat, confused.

The old man utters a tired sigh. “We presumed that you'd be moving  
to a smaller place.”

A panic makes Adam’s voice sounds higher. He cannot move! “Move?”

“Without your father's income, the mortgage payments are-“ Mr. Wardlow explains.

Adam is officially panicking now. He cuts in, agitated, “I don't wanna move.” 

Mr. Wardlow gives him a stunned and alarmed expression, as if he is scared that Adam would jump him any second.

Harlan put his hand on Adam’s shoulder, trying to sooth the scared boy. “Easy.”

“Think of it as an opportunity. You might wanna try a different city.” Mr. Wardlow suggests carefully, trying to keep his voice professionally optimistic. 

Adam is on the blink of tears now, and Mr. Wardlow stares at him from the corner of his eyes.

Harlan is sick of people looking at Adam that way. He explains to the layer for Adam. “Uh, Mr. Wardlow…Adam has never been out of the city alone in his life.” 

The old man frowns, “Uh-huh. Well, uh, closer to home then. With the income from your job–“

Adam’s voice is almost yelling now. “I don't have a job. I was fired from my job!”

An understanding dawns on Mr. Wardlow’s face. 

“Oh. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. That makes the equity in the apartment even more valuable.” He reasons. “Changes like this are hard, but-“

“I won't sell my house.” Adam says stubbornly.

“Mr. Raki, I–“ Mr. Wardlow widens his eyes as Adam begins to pace violently in the room.

Adam brings his hands to his ears and yells. “Go away! You're hurting my ears! I'm not gonna sell my house. I’m not selling my house!”

Harlan rushes to Adam. “Calm down. Cross your arms over your chest…That’s it. Mr. Wardlow, are we done?”

The lawyer has retreated to another corner of his office by now. “There are papers to be signed.”

“Can you send them?” Harlan says, ready to escort Adam out of the room.

“They need to be notar–Yes. Yes. Yes. We, uh–We can do that.” Mr. Wardlow says.

Harlan nods, gratefully. “Come on, Adam, let's go.”

Back in the truck now on their way home, Adam rocks himself back and forth on his seat, his hands pulling at the seatbelt obsessively. A coping mechanism of Adam trying to calm himself down.

“I can’t–“ Adam stemmers. :I ca– I can't move.”

Harlan takes his eyes off the road and gives him a glance briefly. “All right. Come on. You're not 10 years old anymore. You need a job. Adam, you're 29 years old. You can't pay your mortgage without finding a job.” 

The thought of attending job interviews gives Adam headache. “Job interviews usually don't go very well.”

“So what?” Harlan shakes his head and laughs, “Adam, send out the goddamned application letters and worry about the interviews later.”

So Adam put in some applications the next day - He put in eighty-seven applications, including letters of inquiry. 

He is sort of proud of himself when he has sent out the last batch of emails. He stretches his arms and legs and yawns. There is still light in the late afternoon sky, and he has nothing urgent left to do now.

Perhaps he should make use of the time and do something that has been on his mind for a while. 

—

Elias takes off all of his clothes.

He stares at his own reflection in the mirror, checking himself out up and down. A satisfactory grin hanging at the corner of his mouth, until he notices a small tummy pooch is starting, again. 

With a pout, the tall man pulls on a white polo shirt and steps into his sports shorts. 

Time for him to exercise a bit.

It’s almost the end of autumn. Leaves begin to fall, paving the jogging path a golden colour. Stepping onto the leaves create crisp, crunch sounds with every step Elias takes, and it feels oddly satisfying. His face is all sweaty and looks funny by the time he runs until he thinks he can’t run anymore. 

Walking up the stairs up to his apartment, he can feel a slight tremble in his muscles. He thinks he might have overdone it, he is out of breath and his legs are buckling, and his body is tired and aching all over. 

It would be nice to take a very hot shower now. 

The sky is getting dark. The spectacular evening colour now a blur of red and orange as he looks out from his black framed window because of all the dust and dirt caked on the glass. 

And then he catches a strange movement out of the corner of his eyes.

There is a shadow moving outside the window, as if someone is waving at him happily…or as if someone is struggling frantically being strangled to death on a rope. 

Elias screeches and screams wildly. He considers running out of the room, but instead he hurries over to the windows, battled with the stubborn lock, and opens one of them with a bang. 

“Adam!” Elias yells at the top of his voice. His eyes are wide open and his face is flushed. 

The man hanging on a mountain climbing rope outside his window is actually Adam. 

Confusion clouded his face as he watches him with concern eyes. Adam is in his space suit, again. He is thrashing his arms and legs, grunting and groaning, trying to regain his balance like a little spider swinging and dangling at the end of a silk thread in the wind. Holding in his hands is a cloth and a window wipe that smell of cleaning detergent.

What is happening?

“A-Adam? Wha–“ Elias tries to catch Adam, but clumsily misses him. “Get in here!”

Adam is grunt and panting as he tries to get his feet on the window sill. When he slips, Elias screams again. 

“Are-Are you okay, Adam? Take my hand, take my hand now!” Elias reaches out as best as he can, half of his upper body is already out of the window when his fingers finally gets in touch with Adam’s. 

Both of them are awfully sweaty and exhausted by the time Elias manages to unbuckle the harness and the strap of the rope from Adam’s body, hauling the window cleaning spaceman back to safety.

Adam, standing on the narrow window sill, tries to jump down with a small leap. But his space suit is very stiff, and being as uncoordinated as him, there’s no surprise when he trips and falls face first to the floor, crashing into the waiting arms of Elias. 

It turns out Adam, in his bulky space suit, is far heavier than Elias expected. Losing his balance catching Adam around the waist, both of them end up tumbling backwards to the floor. 

“Ou- ou- ou- ouch- Nej…ugh, Adam.” Lying spread eagle on the floor, Elias groans and grunts loudly. His back hurts like hell, but the feeling of having Adam lying on top of him feels kind of…good.

Adam’s nose is dangerously close - about an inch- from crashing on the hard floorboard. His face fit snugly in the crook of Elias’ neck like a puzzle piece. 

“Why did you scream like that?” Adam asks. “It was me!”

Both panting heavily and too exhausted to move, their faces reddened from the physical exertion. 

“But I didn't know that!” Elias laughs. “I walked into my apartment and there was this strange man in my window.”

“Oh. I guess not.” Adam laughs too, but apologetically. “Thank you for trying to–“ 

“You're welcome. But wh- what were you doing out there? You could have been killed.” Elias scolds affectionately in his ears, his voice coarse and strained. “How were you gonna get down?”

“Climb up. I told you, it's rated for 3,000 pounds.” Adam states it like it's the most obvious thing in the world. “You said you couldn't see out of your windows.”

Elias frowns in confusion. “When did I say that?…Oh.”

He told Adam he couldn’t see out of his windows because of all the soot on the glass on the first day they met. He remembers? He remembers and cares enough to clean the window for him like that? 

A tiny spark of an unknown emotion rises from his chest. 

Elias hisses a laugh, he lift his hands to pat and cradle Adam’s head protectively, holding him tight against his neck. His fingers rake through the sweat soaked hair like the smaller man is the most precious thing he has ever laid my eyes on. 

Feeling a haste kiss on his temple stuns Adam, and his entire body stiffens. 

“Elias?…Why-why-?” He asks quietly. 

“Shhhh…” Elias hushes him. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. Tightening his embrace on him.

For a long moment, they just stay there. The silence around them is heavy, but not unpleasant. It feels intimate. 

They, however, both attempt to avoid looking in each other's eyes. 

“I’m sorry, Adam, I lied to you.” Elias says in an almost whisper. 

Adam bites his lips, he’s very sensitive about being lied to, but right now his mind is overloaded, swimming like he is floating somewhere in space. "About what?" 

Elias’ hand tightens into a fist in Adam’s hair, gently pulling the smaller man’s head back until their eyes meet. The older man tries to steady his breathing as he leans up and places a feather light kiss on Adam’s lips. 

After the kiss, Elias’ eyes remain squeezed tightly shut. _Who’d want to be kissed by someone with cleft lip?_ Adam is not like any of those women in his past, of course, but still. 

He can't bare to see disgust in his beloved Adam’s eyes. 

“About…about this.” Elias confesses, his voice trails off until it is inaudible. “Forgive me, Adam…I- Jeg elsker dig.” 

“Oh.” Adam sucks his lips into his mouth, nibbling anxiously on them as pink blooms high on his cheeks. 

He props himself up a bit with his elbow and tilts his head, his mind trying to understand why Elias looks so scared. Having gathered up his courage, Adam leans down and kisses the man back. He even opens his mouth a little and slips a little tongue into his mouth. 

It’s a kiss that touches both their soul, as they pull apart they flinch and smile a little at each other. 

Adam tastes so good. Elias’ eyes snap open, then he lower them again lovingly as tears well up in them. 

The space suit Adam’s wearing is heavy, stiff and bulky, and the hard parts are pressing rather uncomfortably on Elias’ sensitive arousal. The sensation of desire coursing through his mind is more powerful than any other emotion he has ever felt. 

“We have to get up now, Adam.” Elias whispers. 

Clumsily, both of them struggles to stand up, their hands holding ever so tightly as they help each other getting back onto their feet. 

Having helped his dear spaceman getting out of his space suit, Elias finds that he is wearing only his sweatshirt and pyjama shorts underneath. So he hurries to the wardrobe, pulls out one of his warmest oversized sweaters, and hands it to Adam with a blush.

Glancing between the offered clothing and Elias’ expectant face, Adam gratefully accepts and pulls it on. The grey sweater is very warm, warm like Elias. The size, though, is a bit too big for him, and it remains hanging loosely on his shoulders. 

_Adam is so adorable._ Elias steals a few glances at the man, his urge to mastrubate begins to haunt him. Right when he’s about to excuse himself and flee to the bathroom, Adam stops him by grabbing onto his arm.

“Um…Elias?” Adam whispers.

Elias follows his gaze, horrified to realise that he is staring at the obvious tent in his thin, tight jogging shorts where his cock is straining against the fabric. 

“I-I…” Elias blinks uncomfortably. 

“Do you, um–“ Adam frowns and licks his lips. The right corner of Adam’s lips slowly pulls up into a knowing half-grin that looks almost mischievous. “Do you want sex?”

—

He has lost track of how many times he has fantasised about taking a shower with Adam. Elias raises his face to the stream, letting the water run into his eyes. 

The water is scalding hot, their skin are flushed pink from the heat. Enveloped in the soothing mist of the steam with one of his forearms braced on the cool white tiled wall, Elias feels fingertips shakily trace along his spine, riding the curves up to his shoulder blade. Gently, the hands start kneading the muscles at the junction of his neck and shoulder. 

It feels so, so good. Elias let out a soft moan that echo in the small bathroom, moisture gathers on his eyelashes as he blinks furiously. 

Adam retracts his hands immediately. “I-I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

“Nej-No, no, no.” Elias stutters. “Good…It was great.”

The taller man swallows a lump in his throat. Slowly he turns around to face Adam, resting his back against the cold wall. His eyes keep darting between Adam’s slightly lowered gaze and his growing arousal.

Elias licks his lips, one of his hands reaches up to tip Adam’s slightly stubbled chin upwards, the other wraps its fingers around Adam’s cock. Adam shudders as his thumb brushes over the head. Taking the chance, Elias leans forward and slips his tongue pass his lips clumsily.

Adam’s eyelashes flutter as Elias’ fingers massage gently at the back of his neck, then he shut his eyes entirely. The physical contact is not unpleasant at all, in fact, it’s quite enjoyable. 

His mind swims as Elias begins stroking his cock with maddening pace and pressure, his own hands reaches out, out of reflex, wanting to balance himself by grabbing on Elias’ slippery arm and hairy chest, his fingernails scraping lightly across the nub of a hidden nipple. 

One of his hands eventually slide down to touch the thick, already angrily red arousal of Elias. The touch experimental, feather light. His cock looks painfully hardened. Adam begins rubbing up and down the sensitive rigid shaft, slowly at first, then the pace quickens, his thumb mirroring the action of the taller man’s, circling the throbbing head that is already leaking precome.

The pressure pulls a loud moan from Elias that startles Adam, making him tighten his fist instinctively. It sends a sharp pleasure through Elias’ spine. Suddenly spurt after spurt of hot, white cum erupts from the dark red tip of Elias’ thick cock.

“Oh.” Adam suppresses a half-grin.

“A-Adam, sorry.” Elias buries his face into the curve of Adam’s neck as orgasm washes over him, his eyes squeezed shut in embarrassment. 

He’s never lasted very long even when he is masturbating anyway. 

“It’s-It’s alright.” Adam pat his head. “You don’t have to-um, Argh…!”

The smaller man’s mouth goes slack as Elias goes down on his knees in front of him, large warm hands cupping his buttocks as Elias pulls him close, taking the head of his cock into his mouth. His tongue swirling the underside of the head experimentally, then he takes his entire length into his mouth. 

It’s an apology. Adam inhales a sharp gasp, he feels his knees begin to buckle even though Elias is not very skilled in doing that at all. 

— 

Out of the shower dressed in fresh clothes, Elias is still clinging on Adam like a sloth as the sound of rattling keys indicates Gabriel is back.

Seeing his brother and his little crush coming out of a steaming bathroom is the last thing the man expects to witness when he opens the door. It shocks Gabriel to no end, his eyes widens, round like an actual owl. 

Before the silence in the apartment between the three men gets overly awkward, Elias takes Adam by the hand and drags him out of the door. 

“Goodbye, Gabriel.” Adam even bids him goodbye, although the man is not looking at him in the eyes. Gabriel stares at the space suit neatly placed at the corner of the living room, utterly confused.

Back in Adam’s apartment, the two men curled up on the sofa together, half-heartedly watching a documentary about Genetic Engineering. 

Elias’ mouth keeps nipping possessively on Adam’s neck now that he no longer refrains himself from touching the man he loves, seeking Adam’s attention like a giant bear. Not very subtly, he brushes his half-woken arousal against Adam’s thigh.

Adam frowns and turns towards Elias’ general direction with raised eyebrows. 

“That’s weird. You have a very short refractory period for your age, Elias.” He says frankly without a hint of mocking. 

The older man pouts. “You think I’m weird.”

Elias is weirder than Adam can ever imagine. He is part bull and part man for fuck’s sake, a freak of nature.

“The weirdest.” Adam confirms. He sucks his lips into his mouth and suppresses a grin. “But I like your weirdness, Elias, and, um, I’m weird too, so you're not alone.”

Tears pricks at the back of Elias’ eyes, not tears of sadness, but of happiness. He inches closer to Adam, nuzzling his stubbled cheek against his before planting an endearing kiss on his temple. 

No, Elias is not alone, not anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the end, thank you very much for the comments <3 I will definitely come back to these two dorks later, separate short chapters perhaps (fashionably called Timestamps?). :D

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on Tumblr too :D [@vulcanplomeeksoup](http://vulcanplomeeksoup.tumblr.com) Come chat with me about Hannibal !


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